


untitled

by godcheekbones



Category: Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-24
Updated: 2017-09-24
Packaged: 2019-01-04 21:09:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12176634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/godcheekbones/pseuds/godcheekbones
Summary: “My name is Natsume,” the man says, regaining his wits. He stands up politely. There is a head in height difference between the old man and high school boy. That, and age, but nothing else looks dissimilar.





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The man is middle-aged, aptly described to be early into his senior years if one is less polite. He has an old-fashioned hat over neat silver hair and a patched-up cloak, of the sort of material that nobody makes anymore.

Touko puts her hand over her mouth, eyes wide.

There is no mistaking the thin face, or the apologetic slope of his shoulders as the man takes off his hat to look upon her with the same gentle, fond expression.

“Sorry for intruding,” the man says sheepishly.

 

 

It takes an hour for Shigeru to return from work. As he removes his dress shoes and makes his routine pilgrimage to the kitchen for a glass of water, foreign laughter bursts from inside and fills the house.

Shigeru remains unfazed. Stranger things have happened in this house.

 

 

Takashi returns later than expected, though that, too, is expected. “I am home!” he exclaims, and the three hear a bag drop onto the floor with abnormal force, followed quickly by a half-strangled “ _Sensei_!”

The cat bounces into the kitchen, ignoring everybody except the man who looks at him with his mouth slightly open. Nyanko-sensei’s sudden yowl makes hair stand, but also invites a conversation.

The man accepts. “Madara?” he manages to splutter, bewildered. “Is that you?”

Takashi hangs onto the doorframe, slightly out of breath. He stops short and straightens up, only just noticing the man.

They stare at each other for a moment.

“Takashi,” says Shigeru. His voice is kind, breaking the fragile silence in the gentlest way possible. Takashi jolts at the sound, and remembers to breathe.

“My name is Natsume,” the man says, regaining his wits. He stands up politely. There is a head in height difference between the old man and high school boy. That, and age, but nothing else looks dissimilar.

The first quivering words are, “I don’t know you.”

The man who calls himself Natsume says at the same time, in astonishment and perhaps also slightly impressed, “Huh, you’re not a baby no more.”

Next to the table leg, Nyanko-sensei puts a paw over his eyes.

 

 

They take a walk.

 

 

“Are you a youkai?” Takashi asks. He is pale, hands hugging Nyanko-sensei tight, and the man squints at him, as an old man should, when one is puzzling over something odd said.

“Yes,” the man says.

“Natsume,” Nyanko-sensei says, wriggling out of Takashi’s arms. “This is Hiryuu. You can stop worrying so senselessly over this relic. He’s not worth your time.”

“ _Relic_?!” Hiryuu shakes his fist at the cat indignantly. “I own the name, you fortune cat! My dear Reiko gave it to me.”

“You know my grandmother?”

Hiryuu turns to him. “Takashi-kun, you were at the exorcist Hakozaki-san’s house recently, no?”

Takashi remembers burning house, alight with blue flames, as he tells Natori about the Book of Friends.  

“You met two of my friends, who were guarding Hakozaki-san’s precious research.”

“The dragons…?” Takashi breathes.

Bathed in the colours of the sunset, Hiryuu’s smile is wide, warm and for Takashi.

“Ah, imagine my surprise when they told me of you, and that you could _see_ them!”

“The dragon– it said I looked like you.” _My grandfather_. Takashi’s voice breaks. The old man does not notice, Nyanko-sensei pretends not to.

Hiryuu scratches the side of his face guiltily. “Actually, I tried my best to accommodate to my dear Reiko’s descriptions of the male form but over time, it looks like I took on more of her physical resemblance. And when she… died… well.” His eyes cloud over. “It was time for me to leave the human world too.”

“Hmph! More like, you couldn’t survive a day here without Reiko. I bet you still can’t tell the difference between a– _You insolent_ –! _Put me down_!”

Hiryuu picks up the cat to eye level. “Yes, yes, I missed you too in the time I was gone, Madara,” he laughs, “but I have to ask. _Why_ are you in this ugly form?”

The squabble fades into the background. Takashi has a thousand questions, and a hundred more, and there is a burning feeling in his chest that hurts, yet Takashi never wants to let that emotion go.

“Takashi-kun?”

Hiryuu, who impossibly stands in front of him, stands for so many answers to impossible questions.

“It’s fine. I’m fine,” Takashi says, eyes bright. “Would you tell me more?”

 


End file.
